


Promise Me

by jamesilver



Series: Trashy Tropes-- Kylux [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, College, Falling In Love, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Tutoring, also the headcanon that hux is a total caffeine junky lmao, hux is tutoring him in math, it’s nice, kylo is super forward, listen they are both hella angst, the last jedi didnt happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 13:36:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13435827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamesilver/pseuds/jamesilver
Summary: Turns out Mr. Engineering Genius was a redhead twink hottie. Kylo’s first thought upon seeing him in the library was, damn, genius, come get some.Except for the fact that it didn’t seem like Kylo was going to get anywhere. At least, not if the way Genius Twink Hottie downright glared when Kylo set his bag down.“Hi. I’m Kylo.”The man’s eyes were rimmed red and locked with Kylo’s wide ones as he poured three five-hour energies into a Redline and took a long gulp. How was this man not dead? The can hit the table with a small, metallic, thunk and the man spoke. “Sit down. Get out your textbook.”





	Promise Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is the seventh installment in "Kylux Trashy Tropes". If you like this take some time to read the other trashy aus and subscribe for anything that follows. Thank you!
> 
> Also tlj didn’t happen do not speak of it here please thank you

Kylo blinked, hoping that would clear his vision enough to make sense of all the shit that was on the board.

How was this math class when there was not a _single fucking number_ on the _goddamn board?!_ How do you do math without numbers?!

It was a official. Institute of learning? More like institute of “Get Fucked For Forty Thousand Dollars a Year.” This was _trash_. All of his classes were shit because they were all “freshman intro courses” and gen ed type shit that Kylo wasn’t going to use in his major _at all_. He was majoring in _art_ and they expected him to learn _calculus_? _When does one use calculus in art?_

Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. He should just drop the fuck out right now. He didn’t need this shit. Sure, Kylo was smart but when it came to math? Not at all. There was no way he was going to understand any of this and— just for the record, he had tried talking to the professor to drop this class a couple of days ago and she had refused. Said he just had to try a little harder.

_There were no fucking numbers on the board!!!_

After class ended, people began filing out and Kylo was surprised to see that there wasn’t a line forming to ask questions. Everyone had seemed to understand the material.

As Kylo walked down towards her desk, she called out to him. “See? Wasn’t this lesson much easier?”

He walked over to Professor Phasma. “No. It wasn’t. I didn’t understand literally any of that.” Kylo held out the transfer paper in his hand. “Will you please just sign this and let me go to a different class for my math credit?”

“Kylo, I know this can be difficult, but I saw your transcript. I know that you’re capable of doing this kind of work. I’ll set you up with a tutor— one of the best students I’ve ever had. He’s majoring in architectural engineering and is an absolute genius who owes me a couple of favors. I’ll put you two in contact.”

Accepting that she wasn’t going to sign his transfer request until he jumped through every single one of her hoops, Kylo had agreed. Now, he had a tutoring session tomorrow morning with Mr. Engineering Genius. Great.

__________

Turns out Mr. Engineering Genius was a redhead twink hottie. Kylo’s first thought upon seeing him in the library was, damn, genius, come get some.

Except for the fact that it didn’t seem like Kylo was going to get anywhere. At least, not if the way Genius Twink Hottie downright glared when Kylo set his bag down.

“Hi. I’m Kylo.”

The man’s eyes were rimmed red and locked with Kylo’s wide ones as he poured three five-hour energies into a Redline and took a long gulp. How was this man not dead? The can hit the table with a small, metallic, thunk and the man spoke. “Sit down. Get out your textbook.”

Not wanting to argue with this man who seemed to flirt with death by caffeine, Kylo did as he was told, flipping to the page the had covered yesterday in class.

“What exactly are you having trouble with?” The man’s voice was flat, cold, clipped. It sounded like he hadn’t slept in...ten years? Just a ballpark guess.

“Uhhhh....Derivatives, I guess?”

Redhead’s face went from dead to unimpressed. “What the fuck do you not understand about derivatives? You multiply the exponent by the coefficient, subtract one from the exponent, and all constants are zero. What is so difficult about that?”

How dare he? Sure, he may have been Mr. Genius but that didn’t mean he had to treat Kylo like stupid Mr. Potatohead. “Dude, I have no idea what you just said.”

Throwing Kylo a dirty look, he turned spun the textbook to face himself, a pencil appearing out of thin air. Without any effort or thought, he wrote the answer of the first problem in the book. There wasn’t even any work to go with it. Then, he spun the textbook back to face Kylo. “While you figure out how I did that and replicate it on the next problem, I am going to take a nap.”

Without any further prompting, Redhead fell over onto an outstretched arm and was immediately out.

How? Kylo wondered. How is he asleep when he just drank some of....

He shook his head. Best student ever? Okay, sure, Phasma.

After staring at the problems for what felt like hours but was in reality only fifteen minutes, Kylo couldn’t take it any longer. His mind wandered back to the man asleep in front of him. Could he really have gotten to sleep so fast? There was no way.

Reaching out with eraser end of the pencil, Kylo pressed it lightly into the man’s cheek. He jerked awake immediately, eyes wide and still speaking from his dream, “Limestone,” before realizing he was awake. Then, his gaze went back to being flat. “Did you finish?”

“This hasn’t helped me at all, man.”

Redhead’s nose wrinkled and he reached for the can of Redline again. “Don’t call me that.”

“Well, you haven’t exactly told me your name.”

“It’s Hux.” He took a drink of the foul, red liquid.

“That a nickname? First name? Last name?”

The only response was a death glare over the rim of the can.

“Kylo, what is a coefficient?”

He honestly didn’t know, so he did what he did best: played it off as a joke. A bad one. “The person who turns off lights when they leave a room to conserve electricity. Cause they’re being _co_ efficient.” He smiled, urging Hux to smile back.

Hux slammed the can down on the table. “Listen, if I didn’t owe Phasma my fucking _life_ , I wouldn’t be here right now so don’t. fuck. with. me. I don’t have time for your shenanigans.”

This dude was legit scary. “Okay, sorry. What’s a coefficient?”

“Did you pass pre-algebra?”

“Are you going to explain or not?”

Hux leaned back in his chair. “A coefficient is the number in front of a variable. Take the exponent on the variable and multiply it by the coefficient. Step. One.”

Kylo did that on the first set of problems and then Hux instructed him how to complete the exponent portion.

“See? Even you can do them with a little bit of thought. I know that’s hard, but thinking takes some getting used to.” Okay, Kylo was going to punch the twink. Or fuck him. He couldn’t decide. Maybe both. Was that healthy? “Now, do the rest of the problems while I sleep and _don’t_ wake me up until you’re ready for me to check them.”

“Wait, but some of these are weird. They’ve got like...square roots and things. How are you supposed to take the derivative of the square root of seven x squared?”

“Make the square root into an exponent instead.”

Kylo blinked. “What?”

Tone deadly, Hux leaned forward. “Look it up on your fucking phone.” He slumped over and was fully out within seconds.

Turns out Redhead Genius Twink talked in his sleep. Kylo chuckled quietly, listening to it as he worked his way through the problems. It was all stupid shit like, “Roman columns won’t fit in an anthill, you imbecile,” and “Make the foundation...mangoes instead of cement.” He really was cute. Sure, he was simultaneously scary as all hell, but while asleep? Definitely cute.

Finally, Kylo woke him up the same way as last time and was greeted with the same reaction. Only, this time it was ‘grapefruit’ instead of ‘limestone.’

Hux immediately reached for the can of liquid death, draining it.

“When was the last time you slept?”

He met Kylo dead in the eyes. “I’m always sleeping. I just have a lot of tension.”

“Sounds like you just need some dick.” Kylo didn’t know what made it slip out.

Hux’s face changed instantaneously, fully awake now. “How dare you assume—“

“I’m not assuming; I’m hitting on you.” They locked eyes again.

Hux paused for a full fifteen seconds before recovering, turning the textbook to face him. Taking Kylo’s pencil, he went through the problems at lightning speed, making marks as he went. “Wrong, wrong, wrong. And, wrong wrong wrong.” He pushed the textbook back towards Kylo. “Have them correct on Friday.”

Kylo turned to look over his shoulder as Hux walked away. Readhead twink had a nice ass.

__________

Hux woke up with drool drifting its way down his wrist, head propped on his arm. Checking his clock, it looked like he had only missed the last ten minutes. The information should still be on the board, so he snapped a quick picture with his phone before downing the rest of his coffee. He would get through this morning’s class and the go back to his dorm and actually fucking sleep. Fully. For once.

It wasn’t until he was typing up notes a few minutes later that he remembered: Kylo. His lip curled naturally at the thought.

It wasn’t that he had anything against the man, per se, but he was definitely against the nap time Kylo’s tutoring sessions were eating into. And they were doing stupid, easy shit that any other tutor could teach him. Why him? Why Hux?

Kylo was already at the library when Hux walked in, much more alert than their last lesson. As a result, he was able to actually tutor the man instead of giving him an assignment and napping.

“...and so then you take the second derivative of f(x) to get—“

“Will you go on a date with me?” Hux looked up from the textbook, shocked.

“Do you want pass calculus or not?”

Kylo shrugged, giving a slight eye roll. “I’m trying to drop to an easier class. This shit is confusing. But, I do admit, I have been able to understand these last two lessons.”

“Well then, stop interrupting and I can show you how to—“

“I can’t really focus that well. I just keeping thinking about you.”

This was ridiculous. What was he supposed to say to that? He obviously couldn’t date him. Even if he wanted to, he just didn’t have the time. “You should be thinking about math.”

“I’ve got a couple angles I’d like to try.”

Hux rolled his eyes at that one. “You’re going to move on to antiderivatives next week. Pay attention now or you’ll never grasp that.”

“Just one date. Just to try it out.”

“Kylo, I am your tutor. I’m not going to date you.”

Kylo leaned forward, over the desk, smirking. “So is that the only reason, then?”

Hux sat back. “Get out of my personal space.”

“That’s kind of the opposite of where I’m headed with this. Just one date, Hux. Live a little.”

No. This was not happening. Collecting his things, Hux stood. “This lesson is over.”

He stepped out of the library into the cool morning. He needed to clear his head. Sure, he was tired and his bed was calling to him, but he needed to think right now.

So Kylo had asked him out. Yes, Hux was his tutor so he shouldn’t do anything. Right? Technically, he wasn’t his teacher or anything. It’s not like there were any rules against it. He _could_ if he wanted to. Kylo obviously wanted to.

As Hux saw it, he had a few options. He could tell Kylo no and get him to stop asking, stop bringing up the topic. Just continue on as if none of this had ever happened. Or, he could stop being Kylo’s tutor. Surely if he went to Phasma and explained to her the situation— that her student was more focused on trying to fuck his tutor than passing her class— she would understand and find someone else. Of course, there may be the same problem there.

That wasn’t a pleasant thought. It seemed like Kylo was probably an overly sexual kind of person, but for some reason, Hux hadn’t considered thinking about that. Most likely if he turned Kylo down, he would move on to the next person without a thought. And, the attention was kind of nice. Hux didn’t get that very often. And he didn’t want to be passed off as someone easily replaceable. He wasn’t replaceable.

But maybe he should move on. Just rid himself of Kylo completely. Obviously, it was for the best— he didn’t need to tutor someone when he didn’t have the time and he sure as fuck didn’t have the time to date anyone right now. It just wasn’t in the cards. He would just go to Phasma and tell her he couldn’t do it anymore.

Something stopped him short of the math hall.

Of course, he hadn’t exactly spent a lot of time with Kylo yet, but there was something about him. He was definitely more forward than any guy Hux had ever been with. Even the one night stands didn’t just come right out and say it. He had even been flirting on day one. Kylo was a man who knows what he wants. And that was appealing.

Maybe Hux could just try it out.

If it didn’t work, it was all the more reason for Phasma to find someone else to tutor Kylo. If it did...well, it wasn’t going to. At least, not for the entire semester in which Kylo would need a tutor.

But maybe just a little bit of a ‘yes’ in Hux’s life wouldn’t be too bad.

He decided he should sleep on it.

__________

Today was Tuesday and Kylo sprang out of bed. Calculus was going much better these days, what with Hux around. It had been a month of Kylo making blatant advances and Hux hadn’t responded to them at all.

Kylo just took it as a good sign that he hadn’t been dismissed or assigned another tutor.

Strolling into the library at three pm, Kylo wasn’t surprised to see Hux already there. On Tuesdays he didn’t have class and he was usually at the library all morning and afternoon.

“I brought you coffee,” Kylo said as he sat down, holding out the cup.

Hux didn’t look up from his mountain of books. “What is it?”

“I literally just told them to give me the most caffeine possible.”

At that, Hux’s hand shot out and took the paper cup, taking off the lid and opting to just pour it in. By this time in the day, he was really running only on artificial chemicals and Kylo knew it. After finishing the entire drink, Hux said, “Bless you.”

So Kylo may have been making some progress.

“Now that I’m actually awake, what are we reviewing today?”

Kylo pulled out his textbook, flipping to the right pages and then just watching as Hux looked it over, nodding casually. Kylo could see how Hux was Phasma’s best student. He didn’t ever have to think about math. When he went to check Kylo’s work, he did all of the problems in his head and went through them like he was a human calculator. The more Kylo learned about Hux, the more fascinated he was.

Math seemed to be the exact opposite, but at least something kept him coming back to these tutoring sessions.

As Hux began detailing the procedures of some new, boring, useless math techniques, Kylo simply listened. He may have seemed attentive, but he was focusing on the way Hux’s voice sounded more than anything.

The scary thing was that he had originally wanted to fuck Hux. Now, that was still true, but since he had been forced to wait so long it was...more. He wanted to make sure Hux was sleeping and eating. Keeping himself alive and okay. And that was...weird because it wasn’t in a friendly sort of way, either.

And what the fuck? It had only been a month. Kylo wasn’t having _feelings_ was he?

Because that would be ridiculous.

As he worked on his problems, Hux sat across from him, pouring over a textbook that Kylo would never make sense of. Everything he did was so technical and logical; Kylo was the exact opposite of that. He was destructive and creative all in one— and logic had nothing to do with it. They even opposed each other in the way they looked. Hux was prim and proper— see him and you think businessman, lawyer. Kylo was all ripped clothes with paint splatters. See him and you think “delinquent in art therapy.”

It would never work.

But maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try?

Kylo rushed through a hasty set of problems, sure he was probably doing it wrong but anxious to have an excuse to get Hux’s attention. The man really didn’t like being interrupted. When he reached the end, Kylo softly kicked out, nudging Hux’s leg with his foot.

“Hey,” he whispered.

“Are you done?” Came Hux’s flat reply.

“I was thinking out first date could be something casual and fun. Like a picnic.”

Hux still didn’t look up. “Are you done.” He repeated.

“Yeah.” With a sigh, Kylo pushed his textbook over.

And, finally— the glorious piece of confirmation heaven Kylo could have hoped to ask for— came. As Hux looked over his problems, marking at least half wrong, he spoke. And it wasn’t about calculus. “Picnics are stupid because bugs exist and also the outdoors is the literal devil.”

Kylo jumped on his one opportunity. “Well, where’s your favorite place to go?”

“I don’t want to go on a date.” Kylo deflated. “I have no time on my hands as it is and if I’m not working, I want to sleep.” Hux pushed the calc book back and returned to his reading.

Kylo sat there, stunned. There it was. The rejection he had been waiting for. It was open, it was blatant. Hux had explicitly said that he didn’t want to go on a date. Time to give up.

He just wanted to get out of the library. His skin felt cold and it was like someone had forced boiling tea into his stomach. He should just leave, now.

Ignoring that Hux would have wanted him to correct all of his problems, Kylo closed the textbook quietly, so as to not disturb Hux’s concentration, before shoving it back in his bag and leaving. So much for that.

The cold of February didn’t faze him as he left the library. And it was strange: he usually felt anger at being rejected. It was how he was typically able to handle it so well. He would get angry and so he wouldn’t spiral into himself and then he would move on. But this? This was a whole new level.

It had only been a month, so why was he acting like this?

He knew he should have stopped it when he saw it coming. Kylo had begun practically counting the hours until _math tutoring_ and that should have been the first indicator. He should have taken a step back right then. Looking back, he was kind of acting like a third grade girl. The kind that would pick he-loves-me-not flower petals and draw her crush’s last name in hearts. Get flustered every time he was near. Which was ridiculous. Kylo was an adult. And just for the record, he didn’t even know Hux’s last name.

Wait. No. He didn’t even know Hux’s first name.

Well, didn’t that feel like a cold punch to the gut?

Here Kylo was, starting to genuinely like a guy and the guy didn’t even think Kylo worthy enough of his time to even introduce himself with his first name. So it was true. This was only tutoring to Hux. He didn’t care about Kylo— he had been reading into things.

Fuck, Kylo had been falling asleep daydreaming about dates. Nothing had made him feel younger in his life. What kind of lovesick sixteen year old was he acting like? This was not a Nicholas Sparks movie goddammit.

He had to drop calculus.

__________

He hadn’t heard the book close. Hadn’t noticed the bag being zipped up. But he heard the chair scrape across the soft carpet of the library.

And he watched Kylo walk away.

Good, he told himself. It was for the best.

But then why did Hux feel like his airways were constricting? It was like he was having an asthma attack— which he hadn’t since he was a young child. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on reading his textbook but the words swam on the page. He felt lightheaded. This couldn’t be happening.

He had to go get Kylo back. Right whatever wrong he had just made because— fuck it, he wanted him. And, yes, he didn’t have time, and yes, he had tried to push him away, and yes, okay, yes, Hux was terrified that Kylo didn’t actually care but. He just had to.

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t actually have any way of contacting Kylo. They set up their next study session at the end of their last one. He had to find a way to find him.

Gathering up his things, Hux left the library, headed directly for the math hall. It was Phasma’s office hours and he knew she could put the two of them in touch. Hux had to make this right because, as terrifying as it was, he may actually like Kylo.

Approaching her office from the hall, he could tell that someone was already in there. It didn’t matter— probably just some stupid freshman asking a stupid and easily answerable question. Hux had no idea why she didn’t just let her TA, Mitaka, teach her class. Why did she care? Regardless, this freshman would just have to wait because Hux had more important things.

He stopped short when he heard the voice. It was Kylo. Hux couldn’t see him but, judging by the sounds, his voice was thick with what could only be tears.

“Just sign it,” Kylo pleaded.

“No,” answered a voice. Phasma. “Your grades have been improving with Hux’s help, as I knew they would. You can do this work, Kylo. Just keep seeing Hux and—“

“That’s the part you don’t understand.” Hux could picture Kylo in his head, leaning over the desk, transfer form held out, tears streaming down his face. “I can’t see Hux anymore.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because it’s torture! The man is so cold and uncaring and—“ Hux’s attention slipped from what was being said. Did Kylo really think that about him? Was that why he had stormed out? But, it was no different from their other sessions. Hux had always treated everyone with that casual indifference. He didn’t know anything else.

His mind tuned in at the crucial moment. Just as Kylo said, “I can’t stand being around him. Please, just sign it.”

There was a pause. Phasma sighed and it was followed by the scratching of a pen. She did it. Kylo wouldn’t need his tutoring anymore. Hux had no excuse to see him.

Which was fine anyway, considering Kylo ‘couldn’t stand being around him.’ Lovely.

Hux didn’t move when Kylo stepped out of the office. He almost walked right into Hux, but he stopped dead in his tracks, taking in Hux’s flustered look, his wet and red-rimmed eyes. And he looked...sorry.

All Hux remembered thinking was ‘get fucked, arsehole.’

Or maybe he said it. Either way, he shoulder checked Kylo and stormed off down the hall, not looking back.

__________

Kylo’s mind was a singular chant of ‘no no no no nononono,’ as he watched Hux leave. How had he heard that? How much had he heard?

Oh fuck, he had said shit to Phasma that would sound terrible. He had meant it all as leaning on the side of heartbreak and rejection, not as he didn’t like Hux. It was, in fact, the opposite was true but since he hadn’t let that slip now Hux just thought he hated him. And he was hurt by it.

Deeply hurt.

The decision didn’t take him more than a second to make. The moment Hux pushed open the door at the end of the hall and stepped outside, Kylo took off running.

He caught up with Hux in no time, taking him by the arm as he did.

With a hurt and angry glare, Hux shook him off violently. “Don’t touch me,” he hissed through his teeth.

But his eyes told a different story.

“Hux, please. Let me explain.”

Hux whirled on him. “There’s nothing you can say to me. It doesn’t need to be explained to me when I just heard you explain it all to Phasma. You can’t standing being around me. I get it. So fuck off then, yeah? Don’t follow me around, don’t touch me, and for the love of your own life don’t you fucking dare speak to me.” His voice barely making it through the last sentence, Hux turned and continued on.

Kylo knew it was last-resort, but he had to go for it. “I can’t stand being around you without being with you.”

Hux stopped dead in his tracks.

With renewed hope, Kylo pressed on. “I can’t stand sitting across a library table from you without you looking at me. You want to keep your distance, that’s fine. But I will not be held at arm’s length. It’s either all or nothing. Which is why tutoring with you was _torture_. You think I kept coming for the past month because I wanted to get better at calculus? You think I asked you out every single fucking time because I wanted attention? I like you, Hux. And I want to date you. Please, just turn around and tell me what you’re feeling.”

And Hux did.

There were tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m cold and that I keep you at arms length. I was trying to deny my feelings for you and push you away but it just hurts, Kylo, because I really want to be with you.”

“Then why did you keep me away?”

Hux’s arms came to hug himself and for the first time Kylo saw this deathly scary man look fragile and vulnerable. “I thought I would just be another flirt for you. Another one of the people that you’ve fucked and then you move on. I didn’t think you actually wanted _me_.”

Now was when Kylo closed the short distance between them, unable to handle it any longer. Coming close, he cupped Hux’s face in his hands. “You are all I want. Please, believe that.”

Hux looked back up at him and Kylo swore his heart melt. “Promise you won’t fuck and run?”

Kylo leaned in, pressing his lips to Hux’s in a way he had wanted to do since he had first laid eyes on him. He never wanted to let this man go. “Promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> oh my god i am so sorry about how italic heavy the first part is lmfao
> 
> Thank you for reading! Again, this is a series of Trashy Tropes for this ship: the next installment should be a blind date au!! 
> 
> Please feel free to leave a comment and/ or message me on [ tumblr ](https://www.bumblebae8.tumblr.com)
> 
> I am also currently taking ficlet requests on [ tumblr ](https://www.bumblebae8.tumblr.com)


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